


Agent in Training

by HiddenTreasures



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M, Family, Lost Kid
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-15
Updated: 2016-05-15
Packaged: 2018-06-08 12:32:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 841
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6854725
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HiddenTreasures/pseuds/HiddenTreasures
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Doctor and Rose lose their daughter while in a bookstore.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Agent in Training

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for TimePetalsPrompts weekly drabble ficlet theme "lost and found".

“Where’s Ali?”

“Hmm?”

“Ali. Where is she?”

The Doctor’s head snapped up from the bookshelf he was perusing to look over at his wife. His eyes flittered from her, to the empty space beside her, to the expectant look on her face, and all of the oxygen seemed to disappear from the air.

“I thought she was with you,” he finally managed to whisper

He tossed his armful of books on a nearby table as he took off at a jog around the various aisles of the bookstore.

He could barely hear Rose’s frantic questions through the pounding in his ears. He’d lost their daughter. Their daughter was missing. Anyone could have her. She could be anywhere in the vast labyrinth of stores. What if she’d wandered outside? What if she’d been taken? So many species out there would kill to have a bit of her unique hybrid DNA. Oh, God, how could he have lost her?

Someone grabbed his elbow, and he wrenched his arm loose. He had to find Ali. She could be scared or hurt and wondering why her Daddy wasn’t there for her.

“Doctor, stop!”

“I can’t!” he yelled. Rose flinched and other shoppers paused to look at them. “Rose, she’s missing! Our daughter is missing, and I can’t just stand here!”

“I know,” Rose said gently, running trembling fingers through his fringe and down his cheek. “I know. But we need a plan. You keep looking here, and I’ll go talk to security. Okay? Call me if you find her.”

“You too,” the Doctor said, and just as they were about to part ways, an announcement came on over the sound system.

_Would Doctor and Mrs. Tyler please report to the security offices?_

The Doctor spared a hopeful glance at Rose. She took his hand in hers and they set off at a sprint towards the security office. The Doctor begged to every deity he could think of that Ali was safe and sound and waiting for them.

“Mummy! Daddy!”

The Doctor dropped Rose’s hand as he saw his little girl climb off of the chair she was sitting on, and he put on an extra burst of speed. He knelt down and picked her up with ease, holding her little body as close to his as possible.

“Ali, my Ali,” he murmured into her hair, peppering kisses all across her face. “Don’t scare me like that again! Mummy and I didn’t know where you were!”

“Sorry Daddy,” Ali said softly, patting his cheek and looking at him with those big brown eyes he never could stay mad at for long.

“I heard you had quite the adventure, little madam,” Rose said, walking away from a stern-looking security agent.

“Yeah!” Ali said excitedly. “The Hath were invading, and I was gonna stop ‘em, Daddy. But they were nice and just wanted to play and so I played with them and told them stories and they told me all about how they got here and how they needed to go home again.”

“Uh huh,” the Doctor said indulgently, raising a confused eyebrow at Rose.

“They found her by the aquarium,” Rose supplied.

“Ah.”

_Oh, the imagination of a four year old._

“That adventure sounds amazing, darling, but next time, how about you wait for Mummy and Daddy to go with you?” he suggested.

“But Daddy!”

“But whattie?” he teased, blowing a raspberry into her neck. “You can’t go off on your own like that, darling. All right? Promise? You really had us worried.”

Ali let out a put out sigh, but said, “Okay, Daddy. I promise.”

“Good girl,” he said, giving her a bounce on his hip. “Right, is everyone ready to head home?”

“Your books?” Rose reminded him. The only reason they’d been at the mall was because the Doctor had wanted a collection of biographies and to get the latest Marauder’s novella.

“Nah, I can get those online,” he said breezily. “I’d just rather go home, wouldn’t you?”

Rose saw faint traces of his earlier panic in his eyes, and noticed how tightly he was still holding their daughter. She softened and nodded. She walked over to him and brushed her lips across her daughter’s forehead, letting out her own sigh of relief. She had been just as terrified as the Doctor, but knew one of them needed to keep a level head to find their missing child. She was just as eager as he was to go home and have a film night and hold her family close.

“Yeah, sounds great,” she whispered, twining her fingers through his as they made their way out of the mall.

Incidentally, just as they stepped outside, they ran across a group of Torchwood agents that stopped and asked Rose and the Doctor if they’d seen a group of Hath children running around.

“Oh, they went home,” Ali said matter-of-factly.

The six adults stared at the proud little girl, before her parents burst into laughter and told her she would make a fine agent of her own someday.


End file.
